Evolving Goals

Article by Mark Allen

Regardless of whether you are pursuing a fitness goal, striving to achieve something at work, trying to change home life dynamics to be positive or are on a spiritual quest to better yourself, a common thread that can support your journey is having a clear picture of why the efforts have meaning to you. This is what we call in our book “Know and Set Your Quest.”

There is always a picture, feeling, thought or indefinable energy that draws you to take action. The positive form of this is an idea of something that you have yet to embody. Perhaps it is a physical change. “I want to lose weight. I want to complete a race.” It may be emotional. “I want to find something positive even in the toughest moments of my life.” Perhaps it is spiritual in nature. “I am going to take time each and every day to stop and feel the springtime unfolding.”  Whatever it was that inspired you to take the first steps toward a goal, remember it. If you cannot recall those initial thoughts or if the original idea doesn’t have meaning, now is a good time to regain an image that does.
 

Here is an example from my racing career of an evolving goal. Initially my overall driving quest was to win the Ironman. It was a clear goal. Yet it was complex because of the number of valuable facets of preparation that could help me achieve it. But it was worth embracing as many of them as I could. This goal influenced every aspect of my training throughout each season. And indeed in 1989 through the incredibly good luck to connect with the Huichol tradition and Brant Secunda I became that champion.
 

But then what? Win again? Okay, that inspired me, and I achieved that…a couple more times.
 

But then what? By 1993 I could see that my quest had to change. “Knowing and Setting Your Quest” is a call to look deep inside and find the picture, thought or focus that has meaning deep in your heart. A good way to gain this perspective is to place yourself at the end of your life and take a look back. What do you want to see? What reasons do you want to see that inspired meaning to do the things that you did? 



I saw that “winning” was great, but not really quite the right focus. The quest changed. Through personal reflection and with Brant’s help I dedicated my quest in racing from that point forward to the pursuit of being the best I could be on race day. The placing was secondary. This was Knowing My Quest. It’s a quest that continues today and transcends time, situation or circumstance. 

What is your quest? What inspires you about your efforts? 

What is it about your quests that focus your efforts in a positive direction? These are the things that will carry you far.

Take Advantage of the Ups and Downs in Life

Take your workouts off the beaten path

by Mark Allen

Life in the modern world can be overflowing with complexity to the point of overload.  Even our goals for health can sound overwhelming.  What if you had the tools to lose weight, improve your blood sugar balance, de-stress and soothe your soul, charge up with energy and keep your brain functioning properly?  Sounds like a lot of activities would be necessary to gain all of those benefits.  Surprisingly, one simple tool can help you achieve these goals!  You ready?  All of these incredible benefits to your body and soul can be had by simply walking or jogging on uneven terrain that has a few hills along the way.  Read on to hear why…

As we all know, moving our bodies is what gives us fitness.  A sedentary individual is more likely to die at an early age than an active one who smokes cigarettes!  So going for a walk or a jog on a daily basis will cover the first item on our health list.  If you incorporate some uphill and downhill sections in that outdoor adventure, you will start to engage the use of the largest muscle in the body, which is appropriately named the gluteus maximus.  Using these large muscles stimulates the body to metabolize stored fat.  The second task is now taken care of.

If your favorite trail winds through any kind of natural setting, which most trails or unpaved roads do, there will likely be a bit of nature going on around you.  Right now we are in springtime, which is the perfect season for absorbing the wonder of life renewing itself and bursting forth with energy and color.  Take a look around and soak in that life force.  This simple act takes our minds off of what might be otherwise weighing us down and gives us a break from the normal obligations in a way that feeds both our body and our soul, and charges us up with positive energy.  Another task covered!

So what about the blood sugar and brain benefits?  Some interesting research has shown that walking or jogging on uneven ground actually stimulates the brain to improve its circuitry.  In short, when the ground we move over is unpredictable, meaning there are little rocks, twigs, maybe some bumps, divots and other non-smooth features, the brain gets used in a way that stimulates its growth and health.  Want to get smarter?  Walk through the woods!

With regard to blood sugar, a number of studies in Europe have shown that while uphill walking is good for burning calories and losing body fat, it is the downhill that gives a huge boost to the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar.  Downhill walking uses our eccentric muscles, the ones that accept a load rather than generate it.  Using these muscles when we walk downhill helps bring blood sugar levels down and actually increases the body’s sensitivity to insulin.

This second benefit enables a person to efficiently handle dietary carbohydrates (sugars) without having to release large amounts of insulin. For those of you who have read our book, you may remember that a big release of insulin shuts off fat burning, which is not something many people want to have happen.  Just make sure that you go easy on your knees if you do decide to make downhill part of your exercise program. And if you can’t find a hill, there are always stairs. It’s just hard to find ones that are lined with blooming trees and flowers!